As the holiday season ramps up, office parties and social gatherings will dot calendars between now and the New Year. Because California is one of the most litigious states and almost anything these days can lead to a lawsuit, party hosts have to keep liability in mind along with all the other responsibilities that go along with holding a holiday party.

If you have a loan out right now, you’re probably paying an interest rate of some sort. For instance, the average interest rate on a car loan these days is around five percent. Of course, the higher an interest rate is, the more money you lose – and the harder it becomes to pay the loan back.

It’s pretty obvious, then, that a loan with an interest rate of 100 percent is a bad deal for consumers. Believe it or not, though, lawsuit lenders – perhaps more accurately called lawsuit loan sharks – actually charge rates as high as 150 percent!

Have you ever taken a vacation that didn’t quite turn out how you imagined it? Maybe you tried to go skiing, but there wasn’t any fresh snow. Or maybe you had planned to spend a week at the beach, only to have rain ruin your plans.

While such a turn of events is unfortunate, any sensible person would recognize that the situation is no one’s fault and that the best thing to do would be to try to make the most of it. But unfortunately, that’s not what Bruno Leduc did when he encountered rain during his week-long vacation in the Dominican Republic. Instead, he actually decided to sue the island for raining! Can you believe that?

We all know that our courts are meant to be used for justice, not greed. The unfortunate truth, however, is that some folks insist on abusing our system to make a quick buck.

Some even go so far as faking an accident in order to sue – remember when we told you about the woman who “slipped” at a grocery store but really dragged her foot through water to make it look like she fell? She then sued the grocery store, and the owner had to pay her $500 because it was cheaper to settle than take her to court.

Tort reformers have been turning up all over the internet recently. We took the liberty of rounding up some of the standouts. You may recognize a few friends of Project Lawsuit Abuse in there. Here are some of the newsmakers from around the country.

Okla. SC to hear challenge over new workers’ comp lawThe Oklahoma Supreme Court will decide whether the state’s workers’ compensation reform, signed into law six months ago, is constitutional. - Legal Newsline

With Thanksgiving coming up, we should all take some time to be thankful for what we have. Our nation, despite some problems, is still the greatest nation in the world.

One of those problems is the ongoing abuse of our legal system. It seems like there is not a day, week or year that goes by that we cannot point to an example of the utter abuse of our legal system. Why do we continue to allow the civil justice system to be abused for personal gain?

Tort reformers have been turning up all over the internet recently. We took the liberty of rounding up some of the standouts. You may recognize a few friends of Project Lawsuit Abuse in there. Here are some of the newsmakers from around the country.

Part of being a smart legal consumer is knowing when to take personal responsibility for your actions instead of turning to a lawsuit. Another part of being a smart legal consumer is making sure to hire a reputable lawyer if you do need to file a lawsuit.

Unfortunately, one woman in Louisiana didn’t do a very good background check on her personal injury lawyer. After he failed to file her slip-and-fall case in a timely manner, she decided to sue him for legal malpractice.

We have some big news for you on the legal reform front: last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, or LARA. The bill aims to reduce lawsuit abuse by imposing sanctions on lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits – a common sense reform and a potentially a big step toward improving our legal system.

Also in big legal reform news last week, the House agreed to pass the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act, or FACT Act. The bill seeks to crack down on asbestos fraud and protect asbestos trust funds for deserving victims.

When we make poor decisions, we should take personal responsibility for our actions instead of turning to lawsuits. But that’s exactly what a young Louisiana man is doing – and boy, did he make a poor decision!

In 2012, Ray Conrad II decided to drink at a bar, despite the fact that he was underage, and then drive home while intoxicated. Unfortunately, he crashed his car on the way home and injured himself.

Now, Conrad and his father are suing the bar that served Conrad alcohol, saying that they are at fault for his injuries.

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Project Lawsuit Abuse

Project Lawsuit Abuse is an online forum to discuss one of the biggest problems ailing our economy and health care system: lawsuit abuse. Sponsored by the Sick of Lawsuits grassroots network, the blog features supporters from the frontlines of the Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse movement who call attention to abuses of our legal system and to advocate for meaningful civil justice reform.More »

SickofLawsuits.org

Sick of Lawsuits is a nonpartisan, grassroots campaign of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. There are more than 165,000 supporters across the country including doctors, health care professionals, small business owners, attorneys and people from every walk of life.